Car-seal.



J. A. OCONNOR & E. FITZGERALD.

CAR SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED 815F125, 1914.

Patented Au 0 wwmz U irnp STATES PATENT pron.

JEREMIAH A. OCONNOB AND EDWARD FITZGERALD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAR-SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 1915.

Application filed September 25, 1914. Serial No. 863,468.

aforesaid application, other features being covered by the claims retained in the'present copending application.

Our invention relates to improvements in car seals having an automatic catch of improved type.

It is an especial object of our invention to provide a car seal which when once broken can not be repaired or spliced together again so as to pass inspection, at whatever portion it may be broken.

It is an especial object of our invention to provide a seal that may be effectively tested by merely pulling upon it, and which does not require a close scrutiny of the seal to determine whether indicating marks, proiections or slots are in a particular position, but which when tampered with is necessarily destroyed as a seal.

It is an especial object of the present in vention to provide a novel form of shackle, having a novel slotted portion, this portion of the shackle being positioned at that portion of the shackle which extends through the slot in the locking bolt of the car and" for some distance on either side, this portion further havingturned over side strip portions of such thickness as to render .it impossible to break the seal, and again splice it with the spliced portion concealed in the locking bolt.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel tongue member relatively narrowerthan the shackle member and narrower than slotted portions of the shackle member to eifectually prevent repairing and rescaling a broken seal by reason of the impossibility of forming a new tongue for insertion. in the catch without shortening the'seal to such a degree as to make it inoperative as well as plainly indicative of having been tampered with.

Other objects of our invention will appear more fully from'the following specification,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective view of our car seal applied to the locking bolt on a car door; Fig. 2' is a horizontal section of our device; Fig. 3 is a rear view of the device; Fig.4 isa section on line 41 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 isa section on line 55 of Fig. 2,. showing the disposition of parts in the au tomatic catch portion of the seal; Fig. 6 is a section on line 66 of Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is asection on line 77 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 8 is a plan view of the one-piece blank of which our car seal is made.

Like characters of reference refer to like along the inner dotted lines shownin Fig.

8. The portion of the shackle that passes through the locking bolt of the car door and adjacent portions of the shackle consequently have three thicknesses of the strip 1, as illustrated in Fig. t, at the portion of the shackle which passes'through the slot in looking bolt A. The purpose of this construction is to prevent the repair of a seal that has been tampered with and broken. With the ordinary form of shackle a splice may be made and the spliced portion concealed within the slot in looking bolt A. The provision of the longitudinally folded over portions 19 and 20 of our shackle results in the shackle being too thick to permit of splicing as the spliced portion would be too thick for insertion in'the slot of the locking bolt. slots 18 in the enlarged or looped portion The provision of diagonal of the shackle performs the double function of making theshackle more pliable and of preventing tampering with the seal. The diagonal disposition, of the slots is also novel and useful in that if the seal is tampered'with it breaks at'diagonally related portions which increases the difficulty of any attempt torepair a. broken seal. For like reasons the ends 22 and23 of the enlarged portion of the shackle are diagonally disposedrelative to each other.

The shackle 1 is provided with a longitudinal extension 3 and laterally projecting portions or wings 4 and 5, the portions 3, 4 and 5 being formed integral with end 2, as shown in Fig. 8. The portions 2, 3, 4 and 5 form a socket at one end of shackle 1, being folded upon each other in superimposed relation in the formation of'the socket. Portion 1 is positioned innermost; portion 5 intermediately; and portion 3 outermost, as

shown in section in Fig. 5.

The free end of portion 3 is formed with an outwardly projecting ear 6 adapted, when the portions are folded into superimposed relation, to engage with a slot 7 formed in the body of strip 1, and be clenched upon the under side of the latter in order to lock the parts in operative relation. The outer end of portion 3 is also formed with a flange or inwardly bent portion 8, in which is formed an elongated slot 9 which constitutes the mouth of the socket, as shown in Figs. 2 and 8.

The socket described is adapted for engagement by the opposite end or tongue 10 of strip 1, the mouth 9 of said socket being of a width adapting the same to snugly receive said tongue 10. tongue 10 is that it is of relatively less width than any portion of the shackle 1 and of less width than slots 17. This relative size is important in that it makes it impossible for any person to repair a broken seal by trimming down the slotted portion of the shackle to form a new tongue. Formed in the strip end or tongue 10 are two spaced openings 11 adapted, upon insertion of the tongue 10 into the socket to be engaged by inwardly projecting ears 12 and 13 formed respectively in the portions 2 and a by being pressed or stamped therefrom, as shown in Fig. ,8. I

It is within the contemplation of our invention to provide a modified form of the invention having humps or beads (not illustrated) projecting inwardly into the socket for engagement with portions of tongue 10 opposite to engaging cars 12 and 13 to further insure the effective operation of the automatic catch, should such modified form of the invention be desired, the aforesaid humps or beads being formed on portions 2 and 4;, as will be readily understood.

The portions of the strip or shackle 1 adjacent the ends 2 and 10 are of greater width than the adjoining portion of the shackle. These widened portions are provided with slots 17 which are of a width substantially equal to or greater than that of the adjacent portion of the shackle 1, and of greater width than tongue 10. Flanges 21 of this projecting portion of the shackle are folded over, as illustrated in Fig. 3 to reinforce the shackle and further increase the difficulty of any attempt to splice or tamper with the seal, without resulting in its de- A feature of the struction. Tongue 10 is adapted for snug engagement with socket opening 9, which also is of less width than slots 17. A plurality of slots 17 are provided, the same being disposed in close and partially overlapping arrangement as shown in the drawings so that in the event of the unauthorized breaking of theseal cutting down of the strip end with a view to inserting it again into the socket could not be successfully accomplished at any point in the widened portion of the shackle containing slots 17, and if a new tongue were formed back of the slotted portion of the shackle the seal would be beyond restoration by reason of the ex tent to which the shackle would have been shortened. The slots are not employed as mere indicating marks but as a means of preventing'splicing of this portion of the seal after it has been broken, seals often being tested merely by pulling upon them and commonly being in an elevated position where it is only with difiiculty that they can be closely scrutinized, as is necessary where dependence is placed on the position of indicating marks on a car seal.

With sealing devices of the construction in general use at the present time, it sometimes occurs that unauthorized persons break the seal shackle close to the socket and insert the severed end into the socket, holding the severed end in position as by an indenture subsequently made. When a seal is thus broken and again secured together, an inspector may very readily pass the same without noticing the condition of the seal, as is frequently the case. With a seal of the present construction such manipulation is rendered impossible, and a broken seal will be detected even if the inspection is hurriedly made. Also through the provision of slots 17 the strip 1 is weakened at these points so .as to permit of ready breaking thereof.when it is desired to lawfully remove the seal. It will further be noted that the seal is of one-piece formation, may be stamped from a single sheet of metal, with obvious advantages in the method of manufacture and resulting economies.

We claim:

1. A car seal having the intermediate portion of the shackle widened and having a plurality of slots diagonally disposed therein for the purposes specified.

2. A car seal having a shackle enlarged at and ad acent to the portion adapted to pass through the car door locking bolt and havlng slots transversely disposed in the enlarged portion of the shackle, the enlarged portion of the shackle being folded longitudinally to overlap the slotted part.

3. A car seal having a shackle with an enlarged intermediate portion, the aforesaid nally folded over portions overlapping the ends of the slots.

41-. In a car seal, the combination of a shackle having widened end portions and a widened intermediate portion, each of the widened portions having transversely disposed slots of a width not less than that of the narrow portions of the shackle; a tongue at one end of the shackle; and a socket at the other end of the shackle adapted to receive the tongue aforesaid; and means for automatically looking the tongue in engagement with the socket upon its insertion into the socket.

5. In a car seal, a shackle having a widened intermediate portion adapted to pass behind a car door bolt, said portion having a plurality of diagonally disposed slots of a width not less than that of other portions of the shackle, whereby the shackle, will break at diagonally disposed points if tampered with and increase the obstacles to splicing. I

6. In a car seal, in combination with a socket and tongue member adapted to engage therewith, a. shackle having an intermediate widened portion having diagonally disposed slots extending beyond points in alinement with the narrower portions of the shackle, and having a plurality of longitudinally folded portions extending along opposite sides of the intermediate portion of the shackle said folds overlapping to increase the thickness of the shackle to a degree suflicient to prevent the insertion of a spliced portion thereof behind the car bolt.

In a car seal, a shackle having an intermediate widened portion having transversely disposed slots extending beyond points in alinement with the narrower portions of the shackle and having at the side of said intermediate portion a plurality of overlapping folded edge portions adapted to increase the thickness of the shackle sufficiently to prevent the insertion of a spliced shackle behind the car bolt.

8. In a car seal, the combination of a shackle, means at one end of the shackle forming a socket, widened portions at opposite ends of the shackle having a plurality of slots, and a tongue adapted to be inserted in and engaged with the socket, said tongue being of lesser width than the slots in the widened portion of the shackle, and a slot in the socket casing and forming the mouth thereto adapted to snugly receive the aforesaid tongue, whereby to prevent the repair of the seal after being broken.

In witness whereof we hereunto afiix our signatures, in the presence of two Witnesses.

JEREMIAH A. OCONNOR. EDWARD FITZGERALD.

Witnesses:

R. S. PERSON, Lns'rnn L. SARGENT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. r 

